Chapter Five

As her senses were thrown into overdrive, she became fully aware of the knife at her neck, and the fact that her assailant was straddling her and pinning her down. Without wasting a single moment, she tried her best to keep her breathing calm and face expressionless as if she was still in slumber, before jerking her knee up as fast as she possibly could between her attacker's legs. If they were a man, then she could use their weakness to make a quick getaway. However, it seemed they had already guessed that would be the first thing she would do, and Akane's knee ended up hitting the flesh of their thigh. Her eyes snapped open to view their face, and surprise caught her completely off guard.

"Shogo-sama?" she stammered. "What are you-" He simply shushed her in a mocking tone of voice, a shadowy smile creeping across his face.

"I'm not doing anything, my dear Akane," the smile didn't move from his face. "I just have to make sure that you'll be a good for me and stay just where you are." At her expression, he shook his head. "Oh, don't look so worried, I'm not going to do anything to you. I just want you to stay here in this room until I come for you, understand?" She nodded mutely, not understanding precisely what was going on.

"What the hell's going on?!" she snapped, the pent-up rage over the past two weeks finally spilling over. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I knew that there was fire in you," he commented calmly, not moving his position nor the weapon. "You needn't panic. Soon, you and I are going to be the most powerful people in the kingdom- we won't have any need for people like your father, nor your mother, nor my father in the world we'll create together! Don't you want a fair world, too?" he was enjoying this too much. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Akane?" Akane didn't reply and just balled her fists- even if she did punch him, she doubt it would have any effect that boded well for her.

"Drop the knife," she commanded, glaring at him.

"I suppose I could do that much for you," he smirked and placed it back into his belt. "I figured your father still had about thirty years of life still left in him. I couldn't wait that long for his majesty to kick the bucket, so I thought I could help in speeding up that process," he continued. "Yes, Akane, dear. At this point, your parents and my father are dead. I witnessed their deaths myself. Everything in this castle belongs to us now. Together, we can restore this land to its true glory. You would like that, wouldn't you, my dear?"

"Don't call me that, I think I might be sick," Akane spat with vehemence. His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't say or do anything that could hurt her.

"The thing is Akane, I needed somebody like you. Somebody with a good sense of justice," he grinned down at her. "I'd actually first heard about you two years ago, when a traveller from this kingdom came and met with my father. Discussions had gone back and forth, until we finally started talking about you and how you would run things. Ever since I first laid eyes on that piece of paper, I knew that I had to be with you, work with you. You and I would make a wonderful team. We'd go down history, because of the things we did to transform this country into a beautiful paradise. So, will you help me?"

"Burn in hell," she hissed through her teeth. He simply laughed in her face, as indignant as it was, and leant down to kiss her forehead.

"Just so you know, my dear, I haven't called our wedding off. Like I said, I need to make sure you'll not go running off, since I'll need you around." Surprisingly, Akane didn't show the fear that was coursing through her body on her face.

"One day, I'll kill you," she promised.

"I look forward to it, my dearest Akane," he smiled slyly as he slid off her and exited the room. "Now stay here like I told you, alright? I have an extra-special somebody to watch over you." He indicated a rather tall, shady man stood in her doorframe. "This is Sakuya Togane. You'd better remember that name, since he's going to be your personal guard from now on." Then, to Togane, who shot Akane a shit-eating grin. "Not a soul gets in or out of here- unless it's me."

Not for the first time, Akane went to bed with tears streaming down her cheeks. Too terrified for rest, she laid awake in the dark for what felt like days, but she was sure it was only a few hours at maximum. She curled up in a small ball under her blankets, hand placed on her neck, confident that she could still feel the knife there. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't feel the hand on her shoulder, but when she did she nearly sobbed.

"Akane-sama!"

"T-Toko?!" Akane stammered. "What are you-?"

"Shush. No talking for now. I'm to get you dressed and out of here as quickly as I can!" she hissed. "Forgive my crass behaviour, but we really do have to escape!"

"What about Togane?" Akane whispered back. "He'll throw us back in here if he catches us!"

"It's okay. Hinakawa-kun drugged him," Toko replied calmly. "We have it covered! Don't panic!" She dressed Akane quickly, throwing a few clothes and possessions in a bag. Akane noted with a tiny smile Toko had ignored all of Makishima's gifts and selected Kogami's books and her new notebook from him. Soon, Akane was dressed, rose pin in her brunette locks. She noted that she was dressed plainly, and that she was wearing a yukata she used for leisure. "We don't want you standing out. I'm sorry. You can wear your pretty things once we're far from here." Toko peered around the door. "Ready, Hinakawa-kun!"

"I-It was really sc-scary!" he shuffled awkwardly.

"You are very brave, Hinakawa-san," Akane complimented him. "Did everyone make it out then?"

"Your personal guard? Yes. Now, let's hurry before the drugs wear off!" Toko hurried them along the corridor, using Hinakawa as a lookout. Their progress was painfully slow and her heart leapt up to her throat when she so much heard a single noise, and for a while, the three had been forced to hide in a cupboard when Shogo Makishima passed with a man she didn't recognize passed her. The two were having a very amicable conversation about what sounded like organising somebody's death. She had clutched Toko's hand and refused to even breathe until he was well out of the way. Hopefully he wouldn't have noticed her absence quite yet. Just a sighting of him was enough for her two guardians to throw caution to the wind and hurry as quickly as they could from the palace Akane had once called her home. Waiting for her outside were her personal guard, all dressed in black cloaks, which Shion was complaining about.

"Black isn't my colour! It's so unflattering!" She was groaning as they stood waiting for her. "It completely ruins my 'sophisticated' vibe too- and what material is this?"

"Shion, be quiet. If we're found now, we'll all be killed," Yayoi silenced her girlfriend's complaints. Only Akane and the rest of the squad knew about their relationship- her father believed love was only between members of the opposite sex, another thing Akane hated about him. Or rather, had hated about him. Ginoza had given her a comforting hug once he had seen her, and she thought to herself that if Ginoza died, she really would be incredibly sad- he was the closest thing she had to a family now. When Tomomi was first enlisted as a samurai to protect the princess, Akane was a mere three, and Ginoza was six. He had grown up as her playmate and her brother, and Akane knew that a world without him would be lonely indeed.

"Ojou-chan, I'm sorry… as your samurai, we were completely useless," Masaoka got down on his knees and bowed his head in shame.

"It's alright, really, Masaoka-san!" Akane waved him back up. "The fault of what happened here doesn't lie with you, but rather Shogo Makishima. Without you, I would still be trapped in my room. So for that, I thank you."

"Alrighty then! I will use my uselessness to the max!" Kagari shot her an encouraging thumbs up. "Aight, Akane, you're sharing a horse with Yayoi, since she's the most skilled rider here, so if we run into any problems, she'll get you out of there quicker. We all okay with this?"

"Right. Another thing. Akane," Shion turned to the young girl. "I'll have to cut your hair. It's the most noticeable thing about you, so we'll have to cut it. I'm sorry."

"It's hair. It will grow back," Akane said calmly. Secretly, she was a little sad to see it go. But she wouldn't cry now. She wouldn't cry until it was safe to cry. With a stiff nod, Yayoi handed Shion a small knife, and in one smooth stroke, the deed was done. For some odd reason, Shion pocketed the hair.

"So Makishima doesn't notice that your hair is gone," she winked. "Alrighty then. Toko, you're with Masaoka." Without further ado, the group set off into the night, and didn't stop riding until they reached a city that took a day to reach, meaning it put a respectable distance between Akane and Makishima. The news that Princess Akane had been 'kidnapped' by the same horrible people who were responsible for the murder of her parents and Lord Makishima reached their ears the next morning, and Akane could barely keep it within herself to scream that they were wrong, oh so wrong! From that city, they travelled carefully, aware of the fact the entire country was looking for them. Eventually, they had to stop going into any cities or towns at all, sending one of their party on a food run. When Akane was about to give up hope that they would ever leave her father's realm, they did, at the cost of two criminals forced to guard the border. From there, they rode to the capital, where Emperor Sasayama was awaiting them, and had been doing so ever since the attack on the Tsunemori Palace.

Akane, exhausted and still grieving, was in no way prepared for a meeting with the Emperor (who Toko whispered was a notorious pervert), but it seemed the Emperor had already thought of that. Once they arrived in the castle, they were given lodgings and a bath each, and Akane relaxed when she felt Toko massaging her scalp with the bottle of rose shampoo she'd snatched from the bathroom before their escape. She was much gentler than Mika was, and it didn't feel like Toko was trying to rip her scalp off either. Akane felt guilty at the fact she had barely given Mika a thought on their entire journey. "Toko, whatever happened to Mika?"

Toko stopped cleansing what remained of Akane's hair and sat back. "She immediately began grovelling to Makishima that she knew you well enough that she could be your wedding planner, since she knew what you liked and so on. She didn't seem to care that you didn't want to marry him anyway." She carried on rinsing Akane's hair, and then began to brush it. "He reminded me too much of Toma. I didn't want to stay there. And besides, you're much kinder than he ever was. So I wanted to help you as much as possible." Once that was done, Akane was escorted to her new bedchamber, which had none of the familiarities of home, save Kogami's books. Toko left her quickly and told her to get plenty of rest.

However, Akane couldn't sleep, since she found her mind wandering again to Makishima, to Mika, to the people who had helped her get this far, and to Kogami. According to Emperor Sasayama, he was currently residing in the castle too- maybe she should go and find him, but where could she even begin to look?

A quiet, reserved knock on her door snapped her out of her reverie. "Come in!" she called hesitantly, and it swung open silently to reveal the person who had been occupying her thoughts the entire time. "Shinya!" she called, her voice filled with so many emotion she couldn't describe. As always, he got down on one knee and kissed her hand.

"Hello," he said softly, before standing up quickly, and hugging her with almost bone-crushing force. "How I've worried about you."

"I've worried about you, too," she mumbled back, and returned his affection. She felt a hand on her head, stroking comfortingly.

"It's okay now. I'm here." Those were the words she desperately wanted to hear the whole time. She allowed herself to cry herself to sleep, just where it was safe. In Kogami's arms.